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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, 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 be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to