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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "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 inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to