Some within Labour Want Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Informs Me He'll Remain – while Britain's Economy Is Set to Get Better.

"I'll be positioned in this position by 2027," Starmer remarked, adding that if the interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for another chat in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in better spirits than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they think his political fate are about to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The harsh reality for the leader is that a significant number of his party members are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "judged at the poll", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to be at the forefront," he said.

The Spring Test

The problem for the PM is that he will be assessed well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought 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.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, should one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, should those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to rationalise his unpopularity by saying the voters was understandably anxious for things to change. He tried to convince me, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the government enacted during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he did not set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now discussing how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a possible peace.

His central argument is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a some time – calmer, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing demands from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political clarity, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political peril, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Starmer blamed "procedures" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is courting evident political risks as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's strikes 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 comfortable with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Some wanted him to condemn it prior to the interview. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour party to undo or remake some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM 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 elicit protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to undo the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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