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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing 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 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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