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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our interview went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move 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