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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to