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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to