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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 following an backlash 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 not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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