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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

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

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" 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 – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

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

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

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to