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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, 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.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar 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, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication 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 thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

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

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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