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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his political fate are set to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

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 sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to