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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any time off for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, 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 formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk 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 his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to