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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant 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 step down, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, 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 "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires 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 notion he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to