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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me 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 backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to