Several within Labour Want Starmer Out. He Assures Me He Will Remain – while Britain's Economic Outlook Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll be sitting in this office by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, joking that if our conversation went well, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk next year.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", maintaining no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would resign, even if a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was understandably eager for things to improve. He aimed to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

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 various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more urgency, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be at ease with such action seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the government is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been growing pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely provoke howls that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to align with more of the single market will satisfy many on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to