A Number of within the Labour Party Desire Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Informs Me He'll Survive – while the Economic Outlook Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

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

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, does he need a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "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 inviting clear political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention 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 comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been bubbling tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please a faction on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to