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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine 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".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to