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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

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

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to