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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the interview was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

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

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time 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 big point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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