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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

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

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

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to