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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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 inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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