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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps 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 not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration enacted during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on 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 many years, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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