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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried 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.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

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