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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what 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.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash 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 not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to