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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, 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 year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to