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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they believe his political fate are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, perhaps 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 although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

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

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

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

And he is courting clear political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy 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 notion he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to