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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to