A Number of within the Labour Party Want Keir Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Tells Me He Will Survive – and Britain's Economy Will Get Better.

"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that a significant number of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to improve. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to