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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted 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. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, 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 although 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 circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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