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"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his standing are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming 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 insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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 past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk 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 notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long champion of international law" but we "just lack the complete details 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.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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