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

There is never any downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk 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 his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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