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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

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 throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy 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 specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship 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 was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering 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 pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to