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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 Downing Street for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, 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.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations 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, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising 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 progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action 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 implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to