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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

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

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to