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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his standing are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

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

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back 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 – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

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

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to