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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

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

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

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

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to