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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the interview was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, 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, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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