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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer 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 obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to