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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

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

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed 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