Several within the Labour Party Want Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Informs Interviewers He'll Survive – and Britain's Economy Will Improve.

"I'll be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, adding that if our discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is never any time off for leaders. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his key political chum, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful political year for him.

But are he and his allies kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to turn around?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the leader is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was rejecting the idea when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he insisted he'd be "evaluated at the poll", arguing nobody would take his term from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

Upcoming Local Votes

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no scenario under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to explain his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably impatient for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to shut asylum hotels before the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that soon the country will "turn the corner".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have spoken with more energy than observed from him for a while – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his points were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

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

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an outcry when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing clear political risks as the year progresses. 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 former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the idea he would be comfortable with these events seems implausible.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face further scrutiny to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

A commitment to align with 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