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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat next year.

There is never truly break for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on 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 thought he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to