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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his political fate are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

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

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

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

And there has long been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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