Some within the Labour Party Want Keir Starmer Gone. The Prime Minister Informs Me He Will Endure – and Britain's Economy Will Improve.

"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central message is that soon the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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

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

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just lack the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A decision to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to