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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

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

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal 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 allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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