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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations 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 evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to