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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – 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 more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to