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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe 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.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though 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 circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

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

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to