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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to