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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our interview 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 downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, 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 following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" 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 perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action 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 notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to