A Number of in Labour Want Keir Starmer Gone. The Prime Minister Assures Me He Will Survive – and Britain's Economy Will Improve.

"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, Sir Keir had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

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

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

But are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his standing are about to improve?

Internal Doubts

The grisly reality for the PM is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would sooner take a risk and remove him in 2026.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the next election", insisting no one would strip his electoral 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 switch leader.

"This is the battle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would strengthen notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the system" for failing to identify 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 gets going. His friendship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime champion of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Some called for 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 next few days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete pledge to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely elicit howls that he is breaking 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 delight some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to