Some within the Labour Party Want Starmer Out. He Informs Me He'll Remain – while the Economy Is Set to Strengthen.
"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, joking that if our interview went well, he might invite the interviewer into Downing Street for another talk in the coming year.
There is never any break for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to understand exactly what had transpired in Venezuela, where his big friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.
When the discussion, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.
A Reboot for the New Year
As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a reboot. Perhaps even just some a rest with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.
That certainly appeared to have put him in improved morale than at the difficult tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.
But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to turn around?
Party Concerns
The grisly truth for the prime minister is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather take a risk and get him out sooner rather than later.
But Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.
On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.
"We are in the struggle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he declared.
Upcoming Local Votes
The issue for the prime minister is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He attempted to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.
True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.
Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.
Predicting a Turnaround
He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.
The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government implemented during their initial turbulent year began to show results.
- He committed to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
- He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace deal 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 combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.
His core point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".
Political Challenges
The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.
But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder approach, with greater political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were repeated ones.
Given that he is in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?
No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its as desired.
The Prime Minister's challenges are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, including in the last few weeks.
Regrets and Risks
The prime minister admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – surfaced.
Sir Keir blamed "procedures" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.
And he is courting clear political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.
Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.
International Law and Brexit
He stated he was a "lifelong advocate of international law" but the public "simply do not have the complete details at the moment".
Some wanted him to denounce it prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.
And there has long been simmering tension in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the consequences of Brexit.
Sir Keir disputes he's doing that, but his new specific commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the results that followed Brexit.
A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please many on his own side, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to
