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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "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 obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to