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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – 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 suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on 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 many years, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it before the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to