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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

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

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his political fate are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

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

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit 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, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement 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 coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing 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 was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to