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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, 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 even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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 facing evident political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to