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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly break for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive 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 protect a possible peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

No government, and especially 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 team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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