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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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 following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk 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 his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to