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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting clear political risks as the year gets going. 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 was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to