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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time 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 year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely 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 coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to