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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back 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 blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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