Several in Labour Want Keir Starmer Gone. The Prime Minister Informs Me He Will Remain – while Britain's Economic Outlook Will Improve.

"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our conversation went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat in 2026.

There is never truly time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting nobody would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when strategies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His big argument is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with these events seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to denounce it before the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to