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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe 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.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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