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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to