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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never any break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government 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 undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to 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