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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including 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 it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to