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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify 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 gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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