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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to