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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to change. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to