Some in the Labour Party Desire Keir Starmer Removed. He Assures Me He Will Endure – and Britain's Economy Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk next year.

There is never truly downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, 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, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout 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 – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to change. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

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

But despite facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, has everything its as planned.

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 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 after an outcry when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to