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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. 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 big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive 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 safeguard a possible peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "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 clear political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to