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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout 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 a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede 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 walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

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

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted 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 after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing 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.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to