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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action 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 notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to