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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem 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 sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as 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 fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. 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 a long period, the notion he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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