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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if the interview went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to assure me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about 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".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to