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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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 just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 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 "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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