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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political direction, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

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

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action 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 comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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