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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our interview was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega 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 governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though 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 scenario under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls 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 PM admitted 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 after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

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