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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been in calls 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 launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge 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 protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, 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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to