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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. 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 walk away, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on 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 his career, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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