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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation next year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

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

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated 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 challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy 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 noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, 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 "happy" 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 – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to