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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining 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 switch leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added 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 comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to