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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political risks as the year unfolds. 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 opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to