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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention 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 these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

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