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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would take his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners 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 "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret 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 made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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 inviting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to