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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to