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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge 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, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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