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"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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 following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – 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 fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to