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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

There is never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, 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 occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to