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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never any time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, 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 seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me 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 controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention 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 these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

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