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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will please a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to