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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to