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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments 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 implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

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 backlash when comments he'd made in the past – 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 not my fault.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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