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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat next year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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 following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to