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"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to