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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

There is never truly break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit 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 resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails 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 a long period, the thought he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to