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"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

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

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to