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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our conversation went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

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, 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.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to