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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to