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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

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

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major 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 about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of 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.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to