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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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