Several within Labour Desire Keir Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Tells Me He Will Endure – and the Economic Outlook Is Set to Get Better.

"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat in the coming year.

There is never any downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a kind of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the battle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to argue, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – in part. But although he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He sought to persuade me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, should he consider a different script?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing desire in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to undo the decisions that followed Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to