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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

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 tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

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

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me 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 controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to