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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy 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 get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

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

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me 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 statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to