Several in the Labour Party Seek Starmer Gone. He Tells Me He'll Endure – while the Economy Will Strengthen.

"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, noting that if the interview was successful, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up conversation in the coming year.

There is never any break for leaders. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues believe he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", arguing nobody would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government implemented during their initial choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

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

However, in spite of encountering pressure from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship 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 a long period, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has long been growing tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the choices that stemmed 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