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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

However Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, 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.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" 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 – came to light.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to