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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. 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 stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year progresses. 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 was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to