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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year 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 change its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty 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 wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention 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 content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to