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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to