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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our interview went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be different.

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

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to