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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat next year.

There is never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, 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 – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear 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 former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to