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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, 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 admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

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

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted 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 full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

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

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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