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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant 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 planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of 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 – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to