Some within the Labour Party Seek Keir Starmer Gone. He Assures Interviewers He Will Endure – and the Economy Is Set to Get Better.

"I will remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a reboot. Maybe even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and oust him this year.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but 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 more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to