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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

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

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, 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 discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to