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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – 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 implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails 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 at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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