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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting 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 leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship 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 a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to