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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally eager for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to