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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known 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 unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret 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 backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to