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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe 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.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer 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 core point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

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