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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me 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 following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to