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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me 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 outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails 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 his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to