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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted 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 a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to