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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to shut 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 was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of 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 – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "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 evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication 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 at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to