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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although 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, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires 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 many years, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to