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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting 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 be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, 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.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to