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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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