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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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 following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention 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 content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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