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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added 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 stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

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

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to