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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed 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 about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to admit 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 step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments 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 system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

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