Several in Labour Seek Keir Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Informs Me He Will Endure – and Britain's Economic Outlook Will Improve.

"I'll remain in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

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

That certainly seemed to have resulted in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that many of his fellow MPs are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the next election", maintaining no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to get better. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the administration put in place during their first choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time 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 offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central argument is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is hard, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me 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 outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

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

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some called for him to criticise the action before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

And there has always been simmering tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new more concrete plan to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is breaking his vow never to try to reverse the results that flowed from Brexit.

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