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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

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

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action 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 unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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