Some in Labour Want Keir Starmer Out. He Tells Me He'll Remain – while the Economy Will Strengthen.

"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Number 10 for another chat next year.

For a PM, there's never any break for those in the top job. Just an hour before we sat down, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was much longer than typical, had finished, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

With the new year begins, the Prime Minister seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Internal Doubts

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our lifetime and I aim to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to get better. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economic situation would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely 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 offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His core point is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, maybe, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder strategy, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political trouble, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its own way.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been growing tension in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific commitment to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European market – will likely provoke accusations that he is reneging on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to