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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 Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue 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 argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

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

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention 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 at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to