A Number of in the Labour Party Seek Starmer Gone. He Assures Interviewers He'll Survive – and the Economy Is Set to Get Better.

"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our discussion was successful, he might welcome us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in 2026.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have left him in better spirits than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they reckon his standing are poised to get better?

Leadership Questions

The grisly reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues think he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather take a risk and oust him in 2026.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing no one would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to change leader.

"We are in the battle of our generation and I plan to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be judged long before then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

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

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to get better. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, although he did not set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it was not a certainty, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His big point is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from many directions for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is inviting clear political dangers as the year unfolds. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "career-long proponent of international law" but we "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics demanded denounce it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

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

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete commitment to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will probably trigger accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

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