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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His friendship 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 many years, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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