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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted 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 comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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