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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never any time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic 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 acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to