Some in the Labour Party Want Starmer Out. He Assures Me He'll Remain – while Britain's Economic Outlook Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever break for prime ministers. Just an hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had occurred 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 usual, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his standing are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The grisly truth for the PM is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

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

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing nobody would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, 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 evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to assure the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economic situation would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to