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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to