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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, 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 although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. 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 growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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