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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to