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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

There is never truly break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede 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 step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty 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 disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to