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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

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

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk 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 idea he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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