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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although 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 scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir 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 facing clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to