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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue 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 sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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