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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation next year.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on 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 at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it 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 long been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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