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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, 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 – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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