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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing 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 such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to