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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, 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 reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier 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 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 thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to