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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes 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 at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

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

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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