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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

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

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the public, that this year would be different.

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

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions 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 trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to