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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

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

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer 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 inviting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes 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 notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to