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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, 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 kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso 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 comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM 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 calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching 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 close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to