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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems 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 told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to