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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit 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 walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set 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 closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is courting clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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