Several within the Labour Party Desire Keir Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Assures Interviewers He Will Survive – and Britain's Economy Is Set to Get Better.

"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, noting that if the conversation proceeded smoothly, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly time off for prime ministers. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was far more extended than typical, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

With the new year begins, Sir Keir seems to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", arguing nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to lead us," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would resign, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was naturally anxious for things to improve. He aimed to assure me, and the public, that this year would be a change.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He committed to close 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 done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite encountering calls from many directions for a bolder approach, with greater political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, should he consider a change of tack?

No government, and certainly 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 hard, but because he and his colleagues have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with such action seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's heading in that direction, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to overturn the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to