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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to