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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, 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 finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, 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 admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

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

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

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship 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 was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to