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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister 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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture 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 definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that followed 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 simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to