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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, joking that if the conversation went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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