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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit 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 resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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