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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat next year.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some 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 told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

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

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to