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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – 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, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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