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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if our discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat in 2026.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they believe his standing are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the PM is that numerous of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "judged at the poll", insisting no one would strip his term from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also long been simmering desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to