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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy 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 greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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