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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat next year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, 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 own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" 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 – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn 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.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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