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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to