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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes 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 thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to