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"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if our discussion went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, the Prime Minister seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

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

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including 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 more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. 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 idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to