A Number of in the Labour Party Want Starmer Out. He Informs Interviewers He'll Survive – and the Economy Will Improve.

"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, noting that if our conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge 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 walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

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

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing clear political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to