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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive 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 guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir 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 courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to