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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to