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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, 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 ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I aim to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

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 tried to argue, maybe too much, 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 judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard 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 some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back 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 – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to