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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

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

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – 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 scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back 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 – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to