A Number of within Labour Seek Starmer Gone. The Prime Minister Tells Me He Will Survive – and the Economic Outlook Is Set to Get Better.

"I will be sitting in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for leaders. Just an hour before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though 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 situation under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to get better. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted 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 past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer 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 facing evident political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been simmering desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to