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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle 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 long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although 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 circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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