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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping 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 be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year unfolds. 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 his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

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