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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble 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 "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to