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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

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

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", insisting nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede 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 walk away, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into 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