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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

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

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to