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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never truly break for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across 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 unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed 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 possible peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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