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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to