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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, 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, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication 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 many years, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to