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"I will be sitting in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- 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 implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to