A Number of in Labour Want Keir Starmer Removed. He Informs Interviewers He'll Survive – and Britain's Economy Will Improve.

"I will be positioned in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

There is never truly time off for leaders. Shortly before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the year commences, the Prime Minister appears to have had a degree of a reboot. Maybe even just a bit of a rest with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly seemed to have left him in improved morale than at the saggy end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they reckon his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable reality for the PM is that many of his party members believe he's not very good at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out this year.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", maintaining no one would strip his electoral mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace its leader.

"We are in the struggle of our times and I aim to be at the forefront," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the prime minister is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – in part. But although he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would step down, should a his colleagues contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove disastrous for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the public was naturally impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure the interviewer, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when policies the government enacted during their first turbulent year began to show results.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The prime minister may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering pressure from many directions for a bolder strategy, with greater political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political trouble, should he consider a new narrative?

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

Sir Keir's problems are not just because government is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the system" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be at ease with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has consistently been simmering pressure in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

The PM rejects he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

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