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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said 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 point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – 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 fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to