A Number of within Labour Desire Starmer Removed. He Tells Interviewers He'll Survive – while the Economy Is Set to Get Better.

"I will remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our times and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also always been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to