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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, 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 not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

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