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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

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

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to