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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

There is never truly downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about 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 judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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