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"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting nobody would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

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

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship 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 his career, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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