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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – 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 stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to