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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action 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 comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to