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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be different.

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

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His alliance 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 many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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 integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to