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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

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

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat 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 disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret 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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk 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 thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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