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"I will remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his political fate are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our generation and I aim to guide the party," 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 throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific 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 allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting evident political dangers as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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