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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our interview went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones 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 terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on 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 many years, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to