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"I will remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

However Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, 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 evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted 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 previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising 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 gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected 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 results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to