Some in the Labour Party Desire Keir Starmer Gone. He Assures Interviewers He'll Remain – and the Economy Is Set to Improve.

"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if the discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up conversation next year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the year starts, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are poised to turn around?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his fellow MPs believe he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him this year.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would remove his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But although he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the public, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he did not put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more vigour, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political peril, is a different approach required a different script?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM 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 controversy when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

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

And he is inviting obvious political perils as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM denies he's pursuing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably trigger accusations that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to