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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret 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 outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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