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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his standing are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if 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 public was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret 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 after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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