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"I'll be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to