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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to get better. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed 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 increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of 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.

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

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, 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 the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to