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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive 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 guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to