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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit 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, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me 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 past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails 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 a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to