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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

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 after an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir 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 dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to