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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication 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 his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

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

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to