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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never any break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

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

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to