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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

There is never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree 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 put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

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

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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