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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate 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 struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning 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 admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes 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 idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to