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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, 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 something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that soon 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 while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to