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"I will be sitting in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges 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 told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to