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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any break for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires 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 many years, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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