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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, 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 even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir 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 evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to