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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge 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, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before 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 bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to