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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The Spring Test

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

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret 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 past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to