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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to