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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never truly time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem 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 attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

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

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His core point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister 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 after an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to