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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to admit 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 resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

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

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy 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 comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to