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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to