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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about 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 although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to