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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to