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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to