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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are set to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso 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 revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as 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 fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to