Some in Labour Want Starmer Gone. He Assures Interviewers He Will Survive – and the Economy Is Set to Improve.

"I will be sitting in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is never any break for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was far more extended than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they believe his standing are about to turn around?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members think he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner gamble and get him out this year.

However Starmer was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Some demanded condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the results that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please many on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to