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"I will be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat next year.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable 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 MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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 inviting evident political risks as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to