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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk next year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened 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 lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate 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.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, 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.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to change. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to