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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede 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, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to