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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

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

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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