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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across 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 not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" 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 evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes 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 comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to