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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of 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.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to