Several in the Labour Party Desire Starmer Gone. He Informs Interviewers He'll Survive – and the Economy Will Strengthen.

"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, joking that if the discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is never any time off 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 working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally anxious for things to change. He sought to convince me, and the public, that this year would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to criticise the action before the interview. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to