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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso 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 occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

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

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes 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 content with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to