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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge 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, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to