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"I'll be positioned in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. 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 former 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 asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also always been growing tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to