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"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him this year.

But Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to get better. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been simmering desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to