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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue 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 attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to