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"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

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 after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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