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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement 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 offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to