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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

There is never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, 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 be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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