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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

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

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

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