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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

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 following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed 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 unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to