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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir 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 courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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