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"I will remain in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any time off for those in the top job. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to