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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into 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