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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to