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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the interview was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation 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 low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to