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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to