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"I will remain in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any time off for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue 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 protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention 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 notion he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to