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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted 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 – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect 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 greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to