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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. 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 circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement 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 considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team 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 after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to