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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime 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 terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. 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 situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

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

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to