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"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have put him in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change its leader.

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

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

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