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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls 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 interview, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant 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 resign, 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 public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to