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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

There is never any break for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

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

No administration, and certainly 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 colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing 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 told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to