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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication 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 his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to