Keir Starmer delivers message to management critics with ‘utter chaos’ warning
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the churn of leaders under the Tories resulted in ‘utter chaos’ and paved the way for the party’s worst ever general election defeat in 2024
Keir Starmer has fired off a message to critics of his leadership and declared he will be Prime Minister this time next year.
In a New Year interview, Mr Starmer dismissed speculation about his position after a turbulent 2025 marred by U-turns, infighting and lagging poll ratings. The PM said the churn of leaders under the Tories caused “utter chaos” and paved the way for the party’s worst ever general election defeat in 2024.
“Nobody wants to go back to that. It’s not in our national interest,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. And he said crunch elections in England, Wales and Scotland in May were not a “referendum” on his leadership.
His latest comments come after he told the Mirror in November that he would lead Labour into the next election as he sought to stamp out speculation about his future.
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The PM told the BBC: “I was elected in 2024 with a five-year mandate to change the country, and that’s what I intend to do, to be faithful to that mandate.
“And I will be judged, and I know I’ll be judged, when we get to the next election, on whether I’ve delivered on the key things that matter most to people.”
On leadership, he said: “Under the last government, we saw constant chopping and changing of leadership, of teams, it caused utter chaos, utter chaos, and it’s amongst the reasons that the Tories were booted out so effectively at the last election.
“Nobody wants to go back to that. It’s not in our national interest. We know from that evidence what happens if you go down that chaotic path, and I’m not going to take us back to that kind of chaos.
“I will be sitting in this seat by 2027 and if this long-form interview works, we can try it again in January of next year as well.”
The PM used a New Year message in the Mirror to pledge that people will begin to see the change they voted for in 2026. As Parliament returns this week, Mr Starmer is expected to promise there will be “no let up” in the battle to drive down the cost of living.
The PM will meet with commuters to discuss help for passengers, following the first freeze in rail fares for over 30 years. He will tell families: “This Labour government is on your side, doing everything we can to ease the cost of living – and make life better. In 2026 the choices we made will mean more people begin to feel that positive change.”
But his attention is likely to be diverted by Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Venezuela and order US forces to captured leader Nicolás Maduro. On Saturday night, he said his administration will “shed no tears” over the end of Maduro’s regime and said Britain would discuss the “evolving situation” with American counterparts over the coming days.
