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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge 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 about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. 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 circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

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

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back 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 – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering desire 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 commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to