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"I will remain in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, 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 controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Some demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to