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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with 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