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"I'll be positioned in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

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 argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

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

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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