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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime 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 political year for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place 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 specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major 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 protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention 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 such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been simmering 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 more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

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