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"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

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