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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps 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 even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to