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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

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

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to