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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, 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 even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to