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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

There is never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations 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 held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal 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 considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

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