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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" 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.

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

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk 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 idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to