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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer 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 facing clear political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to