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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat next year.

There is never any downtime for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication 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 idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to