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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

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

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

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him this year.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to