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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest 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 tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to