A Number of in the Labour Party Seek Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Tells Me He'll Endure – and Britain's Economic Outlook Will Get Better.

"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, noting that if the interview went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

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

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a new narrative?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be content with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

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

And there has always been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit howls that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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