Some in the Labour Party Want Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Assures Me He Will Endure – while Britain's Economic Outlook Is Set to Improve.

"I will remain in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, joking that if the conversation went well, he might invite the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up chat next year.

There is never any break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are poised to get better?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the leader is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him this year.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the general election", arguing no one would take his term from him – even if the best chance of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I aim to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would resign, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be a change.

The economic situation would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, does he need a change of tack?

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

Sir Keir's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is courting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy 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 these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it before we spoke. And the government is likely to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

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

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.

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