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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

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

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" 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 "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted 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.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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