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"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, 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 appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would remove his term from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, 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 although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to improve. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for 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.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to