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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, 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 – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy 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 at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to