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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit 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 consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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