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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to