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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big 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 typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry 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 fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to