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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to