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"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our interview was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

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

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, 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 talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Opponents called for him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to