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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

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

True – 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 implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash 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 failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to