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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations 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, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back 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 – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to