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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to