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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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