Some within Labour Desire Keir Starmer Out. He Informs Me He'll Remain – and the Economy Will Get Better.

"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our discussion went well, he might invite us into Downing Street for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never truly break for leaders. In the hour before we sat down, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his key ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the difficult end of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his allies being unrealistic if they think his fortunes are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would take his electoral mandate from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our times and I intend to lead us," he said.

The May Elections

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are about 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 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 walk away, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, should those elections be catastrophic for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the public, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more pace and more immediacy, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, does he need a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

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 following an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the European trading bloc – the giant economic European market – will likely trigger protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to