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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour 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 friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. 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 scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government 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 following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to