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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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 admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to