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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to