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

There is rarely ever break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations 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 judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted 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 backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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