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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are about 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 acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to