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"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government put in place during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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