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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge 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 resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems 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 "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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