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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

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

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

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

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

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