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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat next year.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would remove 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 switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret 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 statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy 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 content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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