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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

However Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on 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 his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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