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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our interview went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious 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 former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to