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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

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 statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance 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 opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move 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