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"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if our discussion went well, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any break for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to improve?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally impatient for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to