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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk 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 many years, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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