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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

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

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification 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 comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to