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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for 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 – came to light.

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

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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