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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted 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 statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to