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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

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

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to