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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" 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 evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention 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 notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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