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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret 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 controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

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