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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, 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 be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification 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 disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, 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 only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

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

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

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