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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to