A Number of within Labour Desire Keir Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Informs Me He'll Survive – and Britain's Economic Outlook Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never truly break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have left him in a more positive mood than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his standing are about to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the PM is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Starmer was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the next election", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, maybe excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – 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 situation under which he would step down, even if one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was naturally eager for things to change. He sought to persuade me, and the public, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

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

His central argument is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in this much political trouble, does he need a different script?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted 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 – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the idea he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is reneging on his vow never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy many on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to