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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy 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 comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to