A Number of within the Labour Party Seek Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Tells Interviewers He'll Survive – and the Economic Outlook Will Strengthen.

"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for another talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's never any time off for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Starmer seems to have had a kind of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his standing are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his party members think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", arguing no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

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

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was naturally eager for things to improve. He aimed to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government put in place during their first turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were familiar ones.

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

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing clear political dangers as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

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

Critics demanded condemn it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is breaking his vow never to try to undo the results that followed Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will please some on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to