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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than 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 local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" 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.

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

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes 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 notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to