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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for 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 – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk 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 many years, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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