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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

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

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

The Spring Test

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 tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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