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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally eager for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to