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"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our times and I aim to lead us," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy 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 many years, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

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