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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. 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 stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to