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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

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

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk 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 his career, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

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