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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

However Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried 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 a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken 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 demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is facing evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to