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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to