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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments 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 held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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 following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to