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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to