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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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 courting clear political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to