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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated 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 contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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