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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never any break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant 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 resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility 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 provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as 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 unfolds. 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 idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to