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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning 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 even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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