Several in Labour Want Starmer Gone. He Assures Me He'll Remain – and the Economic Outlook Is Set to Strengthen.
"I will be positioned in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another conversation next year.
There is never truly break for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, Starmer had been on the phone with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big political chum, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than typical, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.
Renewed Energy for the New Year
As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had a degree of a reboot. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.
That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.
Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they think his standing are set to improve?
Party Concerns
The uncomfortable reality for the leader is that many of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would sooner take a risk and oust him this year.
However Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.
Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would strip his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 may be for Labour to change leader.
"This is the battle of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he said.
Upcoming Local Votes
The issue for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to protest, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.
Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.
Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would step down, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.
Promises of Improvement
He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the public was reasonably impatient for things to get better. He aimed to persuade me, and the nation, that the coming months would be different.
The economic situation would recover notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to show results.
- He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
- He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's full-scale invasion.
- He revealed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to combine US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.
His core message is that soon the country will "turn the corner".
Familiar Arguments
The PM may have communicated with more energy than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.
But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were well-known ones.
When he finds himself in such significant political peril, should he consider a different script?
No government, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its as planned.
Sir Keir's challenges are not only because government is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.
Controversies and Dangers
The prime minister expressed regret 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 backlash when comments he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.
Starmer blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.
And he is courting obvious political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action 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 comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.
Policy Stances and Pressures
He told me he was a "lifelong proponent of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".
Critics wanted him to criticise the action prior to the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the coming days.
And there has always been simmering desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the consequences of Brexit.
Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete pledge to move closer with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will probably trigger protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.
A move to cosy up to more of the single market will please some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to