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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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