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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm 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 time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater 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 new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to