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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point 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 protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted 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 controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "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 perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to