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"I will remain in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to