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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. 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 dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

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

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to