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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is 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 many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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