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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, 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 combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

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