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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

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

Party Concerns

The harsh 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 take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes 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 unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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