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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred 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 much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" 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 blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to