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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" 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 risks as the year progresses. 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 ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to