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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

There is never any time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't 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 revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back 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 – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" 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 unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to