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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, 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 even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate 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 more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

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 courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to