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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

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

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "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 risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to