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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes 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 this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to