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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I aim to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

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 sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede 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 walk away, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso 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 stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

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

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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