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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried 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.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

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 statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to