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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred 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 far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to