A Number of within the Labour Party Seek Keir Starmer Gone. The Prime Minister Tells Interviewers He Will Remain – and the Economic Outlook Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome us into his official residence for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Reboot for the New Year

With the year commences, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "evaluated at the next election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably eager for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core argument is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

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

However, in spite of facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister told me 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 backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance 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 a long period, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has consistently been simmering tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to