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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, 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 – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to