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"I will remain in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if the conversation went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to