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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any break for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally impatient for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to