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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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