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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want 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 MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "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 inviting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

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

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to