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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never any time off for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising 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 gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication 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 at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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