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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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