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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

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

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not 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 integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" 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 risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed 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 implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the choices 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 easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to