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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer 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 protect a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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