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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to