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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks 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 fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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