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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, 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 held accountable by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" 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 – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" 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 close relationship with the US president entails a new complication 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 many years, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to