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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. 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 situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put 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 comprehensive 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 possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed 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 implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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