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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves 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. A faction of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

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

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to