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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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