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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive 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 protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action 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 this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to