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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of 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 – surfaced.

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

And he is facing clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to