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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never any time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, 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 finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to