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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

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

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events 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 full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to