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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought 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 about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to