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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

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

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

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 demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to