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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, 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 – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to