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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes 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 thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to