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"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our conversation was successful, he might invite us into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they believe his fortunes are poised to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably eager for things to change. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration enacted during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not 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 allies were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is courting evident political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

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

Critics wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke accusations that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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