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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning 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 held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting 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 be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

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