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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps 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 not want 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 step down, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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