Some in Labour Want Keir Starmer Gone. He Tells Interviewers He'll Endure – and Britain's Economy Will Get Better.

"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," Starmer declared, joking that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into his official residence for another conversation next year.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the new year begins, the Prime Minister appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Maybe even just some relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have left him in a more positive mood than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his standing are about to get better?

Internal Doubts

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that many of his party members think he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and remove him this year.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to replace leader.

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

The Spring Test

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

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

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the electorate was naturally eager for things to change. He aimed to convince me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.

The economic situation would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the administration implemented during their initial turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

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

Familiar Arguments

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

But despite facing pressure from many directions for a bolder approach, with increased political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in this much 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 own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting clear political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the complete details at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it before the interview. And the administration is likely to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

There has also consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will probably provoke protests that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the decisions that flowed from Brexit.

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