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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy 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 his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to