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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir 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 inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes 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 idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling 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 commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to