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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

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

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

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

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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