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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic 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 tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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