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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, 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 concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

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

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big message is that soon 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 – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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