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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is never any break for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their first choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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 past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to