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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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 being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede 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 step down, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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