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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime 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 mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted 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 stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to