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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to