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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

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

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not 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 time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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 facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes 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 comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

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

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to