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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to concede 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 resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM 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 backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action 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 content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to