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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though 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 a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to 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