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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the conversation went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge 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 about Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably impatient for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to