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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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