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"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, 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 occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

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

Some wanted him to denounce 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.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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