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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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