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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, 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 concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe 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.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

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

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to