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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed 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 unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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