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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing pressure 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 specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to