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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth 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.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though 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 step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret 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 outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes 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 idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

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