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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede 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 one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, 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 planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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