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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to lead us," 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 tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive 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 safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to