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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another talk next year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would take 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 replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe 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 – in part. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to