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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to