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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

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

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added 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 comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention 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 notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to