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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message 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 while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "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 courting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails 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 many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to