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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required 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 government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit 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 results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to