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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on 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 a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to