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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, 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 even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide 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 more energy than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular 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 made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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