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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our discussion went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer 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 inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to