Several in Labour Seek Starmer Out. The Prime Minister Assures Interviewers He Will Remain – while Britain's Economy Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll remain in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister stated, adding that if the conversation was successful, he might invite us into Number 10 for another chat next year.

There is never any break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time the discussion, which was much longer than normal, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

But as the year starts, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his colleagues are convinced he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

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

Multiple times he stated he'd be "assessed at the general election", insisting no one would take his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the PM is that he will be assessed long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economy would strengthen in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when policies the administration put in place during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He committed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the qualification that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He revealed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

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

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with much more political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he regretted saying he was "delighted" 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 "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 inviting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president entails a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

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

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also always been bubbling tension in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's pursuing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the single market – the vast economic European market – will likely elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to undo the choices that stemmed from Brexit.

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