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"I will remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps 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.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard 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 spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A move to align with 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