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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to change. He tried to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially 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 governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

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 outcry when past remarks 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 failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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