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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, 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 "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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 inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to