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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication 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 thought he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to