Some in the Labour Party Want Keir Starmer Gone. The Prime Minister Tells Interviewers He'll Survive – while Britain's Economy Will Strengthen.

"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, noting that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

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

When our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

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

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable reality for the prime minister is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would sooner take a risk and oust him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the next election", arguing no one would take his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the PM is that he will be judged long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would step down, should a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was naturally anxious for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would improve despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration put in place during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his points were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.

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

Controversies and Dangers

The PM admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "just lack the entire story at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit accusations that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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