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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant 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 planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer blamed "procedures" 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 risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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