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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

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

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on 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 his career, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to