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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging 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 satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to