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

There is never any break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed 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 big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to