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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, 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 combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to