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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps 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 be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He sought to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal 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 talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to