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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one 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 leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances 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.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" 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 unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed 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 champion of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his pledge 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 side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to