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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't 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 occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" 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 unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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