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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

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

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge 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 walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine 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".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even 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 after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to