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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point 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 ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication 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 notion he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to