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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement 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 provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

No administration, 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 governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention 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 told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to