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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to 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 scenario under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

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