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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe 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 – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government put in place during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to