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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what 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 typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

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

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely 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 undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices 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