Some in Labour Seek Starmer Gone. He Tells Interviewers He'll Survive – and Britain's Economy Is Set to Strengthen.

"I will remain in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the interview was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for those in the top job. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was much longer than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the year commences, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

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

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The May Elections

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 sought to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although 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 situation under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues contested his leadership 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 public was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing obvious political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship 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 his career, the thought he would be content with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but we "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions 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 easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to