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"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting evident political perils as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president takes on a new complication 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 idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to