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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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