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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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