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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to 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