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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to