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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

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.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy 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 his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to