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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret 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 outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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