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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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 inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk 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 many years, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

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