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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

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 after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to