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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk next year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added 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 major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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 facing clear political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

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