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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

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