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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year starts, 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 country retreat.

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

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" 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 dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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