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"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about 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 suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous 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 sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted 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 statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to