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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat next year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to