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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times 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 across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

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

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it before 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 always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to