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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year gets going. 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 notion he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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