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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next 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 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir 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 inviting evident political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship 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 notion he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to