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"I'll be positioned in the same seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I intend to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to