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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable 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 MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks 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 it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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