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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe 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 – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to