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"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes 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 comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests 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 delight many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to