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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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