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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family 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 terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating 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 be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted 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 made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic 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 jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to