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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

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

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of 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 – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

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