Several within Labour Seek Keir Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Informs Interviewers He Will Survive – and Britain's Economic Outlook Is Set to Get Better.

"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any time off for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher what on earth had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and get him out this year.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining nobody would take his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, 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.

Accurate – in part. 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, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be a change.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His big point is that this year the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

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

But despite encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me 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 after an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is courting obvious political perils as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "simply do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents demanded criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer plan to integrate further with the single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the results that followed Brexit.

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