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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any time off for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations 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 judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating 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.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

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

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated 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 pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" 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 – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious 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 former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to