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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, 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 – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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 backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing pressure 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 specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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