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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

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

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing desire 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 specific commitment to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to