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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

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

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as 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 not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to