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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking 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 just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against 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 asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to