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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not 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 a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to