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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big 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 finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM 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 backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on 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 many years, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to