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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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