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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen 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 greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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