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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed 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 these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to