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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue 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 tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

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

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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