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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to