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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me 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 criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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