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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

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

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to