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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to