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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised 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 councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to