Some within the Labour Party Desire Starmer Out. He Assures Me He Will Survive – and the Economy Is Set to Improve.

"I will be positioned in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they think his standing are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to admit 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 step down, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He tried to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his points were familiar ones.

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

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM 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 outcry when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to 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 growing pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that flowed from Brexit.

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