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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to