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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – 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 stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident 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 ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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