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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – 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 situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention 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 these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move 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