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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted 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 made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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