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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

There is never any break for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive 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 guard a potential peace.

His core message is that soon 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 – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" 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 unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few 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 doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to