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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly break for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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