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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, 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 even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. 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 administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

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 pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents 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 next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to