Some in the Labour Party Want Starmer Gone. The Prime Minister Informs Interviewers He Will Endure – while the Economic Outlook Is Set to Get Better.

"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

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

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The May Elections

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a bolder approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it before the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to