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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer 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 evident political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action 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 at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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