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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to