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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "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 inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to