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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to