A Number of within the Labour Party Desire Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Tells Me He Will Endure – and Britain's Economy Is Set to Get Better.

"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never truly break for those in the top job. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have put him in a more positive mood than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they believe his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The grisly truth for the leader is that many of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and get him out in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to persuade the interviewer, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive strategy, with greater political direction, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his points were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political perils as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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