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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning 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 acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. 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 was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to