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"I'll remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning 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 admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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