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"I'll be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede 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 resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret 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 statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify 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 gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires 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 his career, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging 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 satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to