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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our conversation went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though 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 scenario under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to