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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former 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.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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