A Number of in the Labour Party Want Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Tells Interviewers He Will Remain – while the Economy Will Get Better.

"I will be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation next year.

There is never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are set to get better?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change its leader.

"This is the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me 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 outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

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.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against 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 proponent of international law" but we "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to