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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

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

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy 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 a long period, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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