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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted 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.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said 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 stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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