A Number of within Labour Desire Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Tells Me He Will Remain – and the Economy Is Set to Improve.

"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just some relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This 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 kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs believe he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to change. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put 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 closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is hard, 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 "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the single market – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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