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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want 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 colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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