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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM 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 past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to