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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to