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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, 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 admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to