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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our interview went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

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

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to