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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

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

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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