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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede 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 walk away, should a 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 voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it 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 bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to