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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the conversation went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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 risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to