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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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