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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

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

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to