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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations 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 many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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