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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede 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 walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big message is that soon 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 some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, 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 own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to