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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired 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 usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit 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 MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to