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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, 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 – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to