A Number of within the Labour Party Seek Keir Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Tells Me He Will Endure – and the Economy Will Strengthen.

"I'll be positioned in the same office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer declared, joking that if our discussion proceeded smoothly, he might welcome us into Downing Street for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

There is rarely ever time off for leaders. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to decipher precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just launched a strike against and detained its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Maybe even just a little downtime with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful annus horribilis for him.

But are he and his allies deluding themselves if they believe his standing are set to improve?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Some of them would rather gamble and get him out sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", arguing no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to guide the party," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a huge set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to protest, maybe too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

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

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if one of his colleagues challenged him for the job, if those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He attempted to explain his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He tried to persuade me, and the public, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he argued, when strategies the government enacted during their first rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The prime minister may have communicated with more energy than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of facing pressure from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a change of tack?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, has everything its own way.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd previously made – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "the process" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with these events seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the entire story at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing tension in the Labour ranks to undo or remake some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's pursuing that, but his new more concrete plan to integrate further with the EU's single market – the giant economic European market – will likely elicit protests that he is going back on his pledge never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to cosy up to more of the single market will delight some on his backbenches, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to