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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to change. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails 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 thought he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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