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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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