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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. 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 suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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