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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

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 sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to