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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest 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 sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me 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 controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy 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 his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to