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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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