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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not 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 major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to