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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former 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 "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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