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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much 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.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy 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 his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to